Elena Schoonmaker-Gates

As a teacher, Elena Schoonmaker-Gates emphasizes rigorous, intentional learning environments in which students are supported in taking intellectual risks and actively participating in their own learning. Her courses encourage students to examine language not simply as a system, but as something connected to identity, culture, power, and social experience. She is committed to relationship-rich learning and helping students become thoughtful observers and users of language. Her teaching and research focus on language variation, second language acquisition, and the ways learners perceive and respond to linguistic differences. Schoonmaker-Gates' recent work explores how learners perceive sociophonetic variation, including regional features such as zheísmo and sheísmo, and how classroom experience and exposure to different varieties of Spanish shape linguistic perception and awareness. She also examines questions at the intersection of language learning, pedagogy, and technology. Across this work, she is particularly interested in the relationship between perception, experience, and learners’ developing understanding of language as both a linguistic and social phenomenon.

Schoonmaker-Gates has held a range of leadership roles at Elon including department chair, associate chair, and Spanish major coordinator, as well as university-wide leadership related to language placement, academic governance, and Inclusive Excellence. Her leadership is characterized by a focus on strengthening programs and supporting the people who sustain them, mentoring faculty, fostering curricular innovation, and advocating for the importance of language study. Beyond Elon, Schoonmaker-Gates serves as an external reviewer for academic programs at other institutions. Drawing on her experience in second language acquisition, language pedagogy, curriculum and program development, assessment, and departmental leadership, she brings a faculty-centered perspective to the evaluation of language programs and departments. This work has also expanded her understanding of the challenges and possibilities facing language education across a range of institutional contexts and has allowed her to contribute to conversations about the future of language study beyond her own institution.